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To build a community of Shared future for mankind through Marine space planning. The Marine Spatial Planning Forum for Silk Road and Island Countries was successfully held in Zhoushan city.

On June 8th and 9th,the Marine Spatial Planning Forum for Silk Road and Island Countries was successfully held in Zhoushan, which was organized by the China Oceanic Development Foundation(CODF) and guided by Ministry of Natural Resources and Zhejiang provincial government. Officials including WangHong, member of the party group of Ministry of Natural Resources and director of the State Oceanic Administration,Anna paola Vittorio, Marine minister of Portugal, GaoXingfu, vice governor of Zhejiang province, SunZhihui, president of CODF, ShiQingfeng, member of the party group of Ministry of Natural Resources, LvBin, deputy president of CODF, HuangZhiping, director of Zhejiang Ocean and Fishery Administration, HeZhongwei, mayor of Zhoushan city, PanXinchun, assistant director and secretary general of CODF attended the forum. SunZhihui, president of CODF, hosted the opening ceremony. Officials such as WangHong, Anna paola Vittorio, HuangZhiping, HeZhongwei gave the opening speeches. Officials, experts and persons concerned from China and Maritime Silk Road and Island Countries, research institutions and related organizations adding up to 260 persons attended the forum. The forum was operated by the people's government of Zhoushan city, Zhejiang Province Ocean Port Commission, Zhejiang Ocean and Fishery Administration and co-organized by National Ocean Technology Center, Island Research Center, SOA, P.R.C and The First Institute of Oceanography, MNR.

The topic of the forum is “To carry out marine spatial planning cooperation and promote sustainable development”. The purpose of the forum is to comprehensively implement the spirit of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and Xi Jinping’s ecological civilization, promote the “Belt and Road” initiative and actively develop the partnership with silk road and island countries in marine spatial planning to share the Chinese solution in marine management and to create a Community of Shared Future for Mankind that is politically trustworthy, economically integrated and culturally inclusive.

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(The picture shows the forum meeting site)

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(Wang Hong, member of the party group of the Ministry of Natural Resources and director of the State Oceanic Administration, spoke at the opening ceremony of the forum)

Wang Hong extended a warm welcome to the guests from all over the world. He said that China, as one of the first countries in the world to compile and implement marine spatial planning, has formed a relatively complete marine spatial planning system after continuous exploration, practice and improvement. Focusing on the common vision of achieving sustainable development of the ocean, China has carried out extensive exchanges and cooperation with relevant coastal countries such as Cambodia, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Thailand in the concept and practice of marine spatial planning, and has achieved positive results. China looks forward to further deepening cooperation with coastal countries and regions and jointly implementing beneficial practices for implementing and improving the marine spatial planning system. He said that the Chinese government is willing to continue to provide talent and technical assistance to coastal countries, especially countries along the Maritime Silk Road and island countries, to provide a "China solution" for the preparation, implementation and evaluation of marine spatial planning; He hoped to take this forum as an opportunity with the international cooperation in marine spatial planning as the content, we will further strengthen the sharing of results and achieve common development, strengthen all-round pragmatic cooperation with relevant countries in the marine field, and establish a blue partnership of openness, tolerance, concrete pragmatism and mutual benefit.

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(The picture shows the Portuguese Ocean Minister Anna Paula Vitorino addressing the opening ceremony of the forum)

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(Vice Governor of Zhejiang Provincial People's Government, Gao Xingfu, attended the opening ceremony of the forum (second from right))

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(Sun Zhihui, Chairman of the China Ocean Development Foundation, presided over the opening ceremony of the forum)

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(Shi Qingfeng, member of the party group of the Ministry of Natural Resources, made a keynote report)

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(Lv Bin (right), vice chairman of the China Ocean Development Foundation, gave a speech at the welcome dinner)

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(Speech by Huang Zhiping, Director of Zhejiang Ocean and Fisheries Bureau)

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(He Zhongwei, Mayor of Zhoushan Municipal People's Government, delivered a speech)

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(Pan Xinchun, Secretary General of China Ocean Development Foundation, made a speech at the forum)

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(Speech by Dostin Mohamed Barlow, President of the University of Pakistan, Russell)

Shi Qingfeng gave a keynote speech at the main forum on the topic of "China's Ocean Management Practice and Achievements". He introduced the overall situation and achievements of China's ocean management from the aspects of marine legal system construction, marine economic development, ecological environmental protection, and sea area use management. Shi Qingfeng pointed out that the reasons for the remarkable achievements in China's ocean management are various, and the establishment of the marine functional zoning system is indispensable. He believes that China's marine management practices can draw five inspirations from marine spatial planning. First, there must be national laws as a guarantee. Second, there must be a top-down hierarchy. Third, there must be a complete technical standard guarantee. It is necessary to have reasonable administrative law enforcement control measures to ensure that the fifth is to have monitoring and evaluation technical support.

The forum has three topics: “marine spatial planning and blue economy development”, “marine spatial planning and integrated marine management”, “marine spatial planning technical methods and capacity building”. The practice of marine spatial planning in China, development status and needs of marine spatial planning, the future international cooperation in marine spatial planning, etc. have been discussed and shared, and many consensuses have been reached, depicting the blueprint for future cooperation. Representatives from 29 countries including Malaysia, Cambodia, Bangladesh and Mozambique spoke at the forum, briefly introduced the current status of marine development and management in their country, analyzed the difficulties and problems in their own marine spatial planning, and proposed needs and aspirations to cooperate. After listening to the experts from China's marine sector, they said that from the results of China's marine spatial planning, it can be seen that the preparation of marine spatial planning is a very necessary thing to promote the development of the marine economy, optimize the structure of the marine industry, and enhance people's lives and improving marine management capabilities all play an important role; China's marine spatial planning has made great achievements, and many experiences are worth learning. They hope China can provide support for technology, personnel and capacity building.

Mies Reiter, deputy director of the Marine and Coastal Zone Protection Division of the Ministry of Environment of Cambodia, said after participating in the forum that the forum is of great significance. Although countries have national borders, natural resources have no national boundaries .All countries are faced with the problems of resources and environment of today's world. We should join hands to share how to save resources and protect the environment and the forum is a good platform. 30 countries’ experience in marine spatial planning makes him feel that he has benefited a lot.

The conference issued the “Proposal for Marine Spatial Planning Forum for Silk Road and Island Countries”. The proposal proposes to establish a cooperation and exchange mechanism for marine spatial planning between countries along the Maritime Silk Road and island countries, jointly promote marine spatial planning cooperation, share opportunities, act together, develop the marine economy, protect the blue homeland, enhance people's well-being, and build a community of shared future for mankind. The Forum hopes that the Foundation will provide assistance to relevant countries in the field of marine spatial planning, and as the organizer, it will regularly hold the “     Marine Spatial Planning Forum for Silk Road and Island Countries”. It is hoped that the Foundation will fund relevant personnel from the relevant countries to study in the marine related profession, and fund relevant government departments and scientific research personnel to visit Chinese marine institutions as visiting scholars.

The Foundation is committed to promoting marine spatial planning cooperation between China and the countries along the Maritime Silk Road and island countries. Many national government departments and research institutes have expressed their willingness to cooperate with China and actively learn from the experience of China's marine functional zoning. At the forum, the first batch of marine spatial planning cooperation signing ceremony was held. The Foundation has signed a memorandum of cooperation or letter of intent with relevant research institutions in five countries: Thailand, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Fiji and Madagascar.

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(China Ocean Development Foundation signed a memorandum of cooperation with Fiji)

During the meeting, the leaders of the China Oceanic Development Foundation held talks with representatives of 29 countries and held detailed talks on future cooperation. Representatives from Myanmar, Madagascar and other countries said that after listening to the forum, they felt the Chinese experience has made them full of expectations for the future in marine spatial planning business. They hope China can give certain support and help, and work together to carry out marine spatial planning as soon as possible.

During the forum, the China Ocean Functional Zoning Achievement Exhibition was held to show the historical progress and phased achievements of China's marine functional zoning. Since the 1980s, China has begun preparations for the investigation and study of marine functional zoning. So far, three generations of marine functional zoning have been compiled and implemented. China has established a spatial planning system for the three levels of marine functional zoning at the national, provincial, municipal, and county levels, which has risen to a basic legal system. The laws and regulations such as the Law on the Administration of the Use of Sea Areas, the Marine Environmental Protection Law and the Island Protection Law promulgated by the State clearly stipulate that all sea activities must conform to the marine functional zoning. The scope of China's marine functional zoning covers all sea areas under its jurisdiction, and clarifies the requirements for use control, sea-based control, sea area remediation, ecological protection key objectives, and environmental protection. The implementation of the marine functional zoning system scientifically delineates the marine production, living, and ecological space, effectively solving the contradiction between sea use activities, such as aquiculture, port shipping, oil and gas exploitation, tourism development, and military use, and between production and life, the contradiction between resource development and environmental protection .It also has promoted the adjustment of the marine industry structure, eliminated backward production capacity, and prioritized the development of offshore wind power, sea water desalination, oceanographic engineering equipment, marine biomedicine and other emerging industries, making contributions to regional social development and the national economic take-off.

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(The main representatives of the countries participating in the forum took a group photo)